I got it through my handicats list, and if it's true (and looking at the pic attached which I don't even feel comfortable to post here, looks like it is) it's absolutely disgusting....

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This is a shared post from Morgan County Cafe, please read....

Please Be Aware! I work at the local pet store and last week I spoke with a guy who came in to buy a rat. He has a 4-foot ball python, which he pays $10 per live rat to feed his snake every few weeks. He asked me (dead serious) if we'd give him a price break on kittens, or call if we got too many (presumably because kittens are a bit bigger than a rat and more readily available). Of course I told him absolutely not. Then he went on to tell me all about how he'd been cruising Craigslist ads for free to good home kittens, but (by sheer chance alone) the people either never got back to him or no longer had any available. He continues to look for free kittens.

There's another customer who has a monitor (large meat eating lizard) that boasts regularly to other customers and employees that their lizard prefers pets over feeders, and laughs, telling people they get free to good home and cheap rehoming fee pets all the time (hamsters, birds, kittens, etc) off of craigslist, out of the paper, and from ads they find on post-boards in grocery stores and what-not. They pose as nice people but your pet becomes food. Adoption fees of $15 do not deter them! Remember, they're paying $10 for a rat, so $15 for something bigger (bunnies, kittens, etc) is nothing to them. And for the monitor family, they get a kick out of it - so they are happy to pay more just to watch their lizard kill your pet. Please be careful when re-homing your pets... that old "they become snake food" saying is true!

That's been happening around here too. There is a local pet sale/rehoming page and two people (that I know of) were using it for the same purpose and were getting all of the free kittens to feed to large snakes.Posted via Mobile Device

Unless it is a very young or very small kitten, a ball python would have some serious trouble with that. I should know, I used to have about 20 of them, along with dozens of other reptiles in my short years. But hubby lost his job and the mortgage had to be paid so the reptile hobby was the first to go.

If he's paying 10 dollars for a rat, he's an idiot anyway. Even for a jumbo rat, I paid about 3 or 4 dollars per, and I preferred to have mine frozen for me, as live prey can damage the snake and that wasn't a risk I was willing to take. Plus, dead prey doesn't squeal.

If you have a dog or a cat, you can't really complain about what reptile people feed their pets. There's animals in your dog/cat food too, you just don't have to see it's face. I don't believe it is right to feed pets to pets, but maybe people should fix their darn cats.

Also, some reptiles get a taste for certain prey and are hard to switch back to anything else. I knew someone who bought a 8 dollar gerbil to feed to their corn snake for fun, joke was on them because he had a lot of trouble getting it to eat 1.50 mice again.Posted via Mobile Device

What makes a cat any higher or mightier than a rat ? I don't see any difference in general. Guess in the OP's mind feeding a snake a cat is some horrendous thing, yet allowing uncontrolled breeding then gassing them at a shelter is ok ? I am going to assume the OP is vegan ?

I can't speak for anyone else but I personally wouldn't be bothered by it so much but the people getting the free kittens here were getting them under the guise of them becoming pets. I don't care what they feed their reptiles but they don't need to be shady about it. A lot of farmers I know would likely give them the cats that get dumped off, those dumpees are often pregnant females.Posted via Mobile Device

what makes a cat any higher or mightier than a rat ? I don't see any difference in general. Guess in the OP's mind feeding a snake a cat is some horrendous thing, yet allowing uncontrolled breeding then gassing them at a shelter is ok ? I am going to assume the OP is vegan ?

I agree with this part .. It's a viscious cycle we create by not spaying and neutering. If someone allows their cat to breed indiscriminately and then offers them up for free on craigslist, they really can't be choosy on what the person taking them off their hands does with them.

I'd rather see them feed another animal than starve to death or be gassed and thrown in the landfill.

On a side note: I've known some really NICE pet rats .. they are smart and funny and affectionate. And as much as I REALLY REALLY like snakes, the thing that keeps me from getting one (besides the hubby) is the feeding part.

If you have a dog or a cat, you can't really complain about what reptile people feed their pets. There's animals in your dog/cat food too, you just don't have to see it's face. I don't believe it is right to feed pets to pets, but maybe people should fix their darn cats.

what makes a cat any higher or mightier than a rat ? I don't see any difference in general. Guess in the OP's mind feeding a snake a cat is some horrendous thing, yet allowing uncontrolled breeding then gassing them at a shelter is ok ? I am going to assume the OP is vegan ?

Assumptions often don't lead to any good, Joe. Just something to keep in mind, you know...

I also don't get how uncontrolled breeding has to do with the fact to be careful about adopting the animal out (ANY animal). And yes, I find it horrendous to feed a live animal (whether it's a kitten or a rat) to the snake (I'm talking about snake as a home "pet", not the natural environment when they have to hunt to feed themselves). I'm against uncontrolled breeding, my cats are all fixed. However not all people looking for homes for the unwanted kittens are breeders. Just give you an example: my last kitty came from the vet office for free. Those kitties were dumped in a park at 3 or 4 weeks old and picked and brought to the vet office. How in a world does it make a vet a "backyard breeder"?

Although I fed mine mostly frozen meals, how is it horrendous to feed a live animal to another predator? That's life. Granted the prey doesn't have much chance for escape in a cage with a hungry snake, but to call it horrendous is a bit extreme. They have to eat. Some are finicky and people don't have the time or experience to trick them into eating a frozen/thawed rat. It isn't as if they make vegetarian snake food, or snake kibble. Neither of which would be good for them, obviously.

And I am sure everyone is aware of feral cats/kittens. Since cats aren't native wildlife, someone somewhere down the line let their unfixed cats outside and that is where those kittens came from. It isn't realistic to think there is a home for every kitten. Better it keep a down on their luck snake enthusiasts pets fed than rot in a landfill.

Like I said, your cats are predators, too. The only difference is the cows were shuffled around the country, stuffed in a crowded truck, bled out at a slaughterhouse, ground up, and squished into little triangle shaped kibble because coming to grips with Fluffy being carnivorous is just too horrendous.Posted via Mobile Device

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